East Kentucky Floods 2022 Part 3: The Long Road Back
When the waters came in July 2022, Eastern Kentucky changed forever.
Across more than a dozen counties, families experienced loss, displacement, and the overwhelming uncertainty that follows a disaster. Worthy Ground was created to document these stories with honesty and care, and to lift up the work happening across Central Appalachia as communities navigate long-term recovery.
Today, I am sharing Part Three, the final installment of this first Worthy Ground series on the 2022 East Kentucky floods.
High Ground Community Sites
This chapter, The Long Road Back, looks at the years that followed the disaster. It explores how communities have been rebuilding not only homes but safety, resilience, and a sense of possibility. It features the work of the Housing Development Alliance, a client of Invest Appalachia, and the leadership of Jenkins Mayor Todd DePriest, who has helped guide his city through long-term planning and meaningful infrastructure improvements like the installation of new stream gauges.
Their stories, along with so many others, show that recovery is more than cleanup and construction. It is planning, persistence, capacity building, and imagining a future where families can live on safer ground.
You can learn more about this kind of work, including the City of Jenkins stream gauge efforts, on the Appalachian Flood Resilience Coalition’s website. The Coalition brings together partners from across the region to strengthen collaboration, advocate for policy change, and support the kinds of investments that help create a more resilient Appalachia. Their work builds on the federal policy goals outlined in the Flood Resilience in Appalachia platform, released in May 2024, and offers a deeper look at the systems and solutions behind the stories featured in this video.
As this first series comes to a close, I want to acknowledge how much more there is to document. Worthy Ground will continue telling the broader stories of disaster and recovery across Central Appalachia, including the impacts of Hurricane Helene and the powerful local responses that follow disasters like it. The storms may differ, but the themes of resilience, community care, and long-term rebuilding connect these stories across counties and across years.
This series is only the beginning. I am grateful for everyone who shared their time, insight, and lived experience. Thank you for watching, sharing, and holding these stories with care.
Watch Part Three here:
